Puppet show



Aug. 17, '1943. E. T. woLFF ET A1. 2,327,234

PUPPET SHOW Filed Nov'. 22, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Www- @wim E Z." W2K/ff y@ Ji. P, Mfyl/VVENTORS Aug. 17, 1943. E. .'r. woLFF ET AL 2,327,234

' PUPPETAsHow Filed Nov. 22, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 12 ,ZIT/f f- INVENToRs Aug. 17, 1943. E. T. woLFF E'rAL 2,327,234

PUPPET sHow Filed Nov. 22, 1242 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 ETWOZ/jf Z?. f? ,/Z/oZjf, INVENTORS Aug 17 1943 E. T. WOLFF ET Al. 2,327,234

PUPPET SHOW Filed Nov. 22, 1942 5 sheets-sheet 4 E. T. WOLFF ET AL Aug. 17, 1943.

PUPPET SHOW Filed NOV. 22, 1942 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 El? M/BZjf, INVENTORS Patented Aug. v17, 1943r Y i Esther' T. Wolff, Gheago, Ill., and Ernest Phillip Wam', Curacao, Netherlandv West: Iniies implicationV Juliel 22, 1942, serial No. '443,050

scams. (o1. 4ertzer The` device formingthe 'subject` matterofY this application is a puppet Show. The. invention aimsr to provide a puppet body of novel construction, and to supplynovel means for imparting motion to the arms and the head of the. body. A further object of the invention is to furnish avpuppetV which can be. manipulated completelyv from beneath the stage floor, overhead stringsfbeing unnecessary. Another oblect of the invention is, to supply novel means for guiding the puppets, as they move aboutv on astage at `the will of an operator. f 1

It is within the province ofthe disclosureto improve generally and to. enhance the utility" of devices of that type` to which the present invention appertains.` Q Y Y With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in thev details ci construction hereinafter described and claimed, it .beinglunder-` stood that changes in theprecise embodimentV of the invention herein disclosed, may be madeI within thejscope of whatris claimed, without' de` parting from the spirit of the invention.

VIn the accompanying drawings: i Fig.; shows in front elevation, a stage 4and scenery.- togetherA witha puppet constructed in accordance Vwith the invention;` y

Fig. 2 is .afront elevation of a; puppet constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 3 is aside elevation of the structure shownV inFig.2; v p

Fig. 4- is al section on the line dof Figf. 3; Fig. 5 is a section on the `line 5 5, of Fig. 4; Figs. 6, '78 andV 9 are sections taken, respectively, on the lines 5 6, '1 -l, 8-.8 "and 9-9 of Fig. 4; 1 Y I K Fig. 10 is a section kon the line III- ill of Fig. 2; Fig. 11 is a sectionron the line IIMI i of 10j; Fig. 12 is a top plan of the stage door guide structure; f

Fig, 13 is. a sectionon theliirle liz-i3 ofrlrigpljZ;V

Fig. A14: is a section on the'line I4--I4 of Fig. .1*3., The puppet forming the subject matter ofY application comprises a ventral or lower portion V, including a bottom ring I., a. topt ring` 2, and, connections 3 joining the bottom` ring vwith the` top ring. The lower portion V of the puppet is:

shaped to conform` tothe human form, is rigid,

4- 'I'he calves and. feetmay be rigid, and formedA of. a, plastica, if desired. The thighs 6. are c fon-` nectedv ati-,heir lower ends, to the calves 5, and may be made of flexible, textile material, lled with any suitable stuing. Y Above the crotchthe thighs. E are. flattened and Vbent over a cross piece 'l (Fig. 9). forming part of the lower ring I.. As` shown in` Figi 2, the Hap thus formed -is vstitched or secured. otherwise, as at. 8, to the main part l of thefthighs 6;, and theV legs Il, thus,y are assembled with theV lower portion V of the body for freev swinging movement, as well as. for folding move-f ment. which can take place at. the. knees. E

The pectoral or upper portion of 'the torso includes a lower, ring 9., connected` to the top ring 2 Y of the lower portion V ci the puppe'tby a comof smaller diameter than the ring 9.

pacted coiled springU l0, which aiiords a ilexible connection between the ventralportion V and theZ pectoral portion P, atthe waist line.

vThe upper portion of the torso comprises an intermedatering II., considerablylarger than the lower ring 9i, and an upper ring or bearing I2, Vertical ring bearings. I4 are secured tothe member I I, at the shoulders of the, puppet.

Lower frame members I5 are connected at their lower ends to ring 9 of the torso, and are connected tothe ring.` lI at the shoulders of the puppet, the parts'. I5, having an upward and out,-

ward, divergence. The frame members I5 merge, as ndicated in Fig. 4, into upper frame members, i6; having an upward convergence, theparts I6 being extendedbackwardly, as shown in- Fig; 3,

I and being joined to. the ring or bearing lz, at the back of the puppet.

' At, thefrontand at. the back of the puppet, the ring 9. is connected tothe ring, I l by upwardly and outwardly converginglower frame members ll.- Thev frame members I1 merge into upperV frame members la, having an upward and inward'convergence. As shown best'in Fig. 7, each Vframe member I8 at the front of the puppet is joinedy to. the. corresponding frame member atY the back` on the puppet by a substantially horizontal U.- shaped part. I9. Y The bends of the parts `IS) are overlapped asat 2li in Fig. 7, to form an eye ZI, the. overlapped portions 20 serving alsoas aholddown, a. statement which will be understood better when ak reading of the specication is completed.. p

. Thenumeral 22` designates a neck, provided at, its'lower end with a reduced stem 23, mounted to rotate in the upper ring or bearing I2. The neck 22 is rotated about a vertical axis by an operating memberu, preferably arod; extended downwardly through the eye 2| of Fig. 7. The rod 24 is supplied at its lower end with a lateral handle 25, as Fig. 2 shows. The upper end of the rod 24 is mounted securelyl in the neck 22. The rod 24 is a two-part member, and the adjacent ends of the parts of the rod are connected, within the waist spring I0, by a coiled spring 2G. Since the torso is laterally flexible in waist portion I, the spring 26 affords corresponding iiexibility in'the rod member 24.1-'Ih`e upper portion of the rod member 24 has transverse arms 21, which engage beneath the bends 20 and, .L thus, the neck 22 is held down for rotation in.

the upper ring or bearing |2.

The numeral 28 marks ahead, having la con-1' tinuous, downwardly and forwardly sloping lower surface 29, which rests on the correspondingly.

sloping upper surface 3i) at the back of the neck 22. The neck 22 is provided, in advance of the surface 30, with a surface 3|, which hasl a more pronounced downward and forward slant than does the surface 30. As shown in Fig. 5, a short pull spring 32 is terminally mounted in the neck 22 and in the head 28, to hold the surfaces 29 and' 3), of the head and of thek neckr respectively, in contact, the head then standing upright, as shown in Fig. 3. A rotation of the head 23 with respect to the neck 22 is limited by a pinY 33 (Fig. 5), having its'lower end mounted in the neck 22,

the upper portion of the pin being received in a recess 34, formed in the lower end of the head 2S, the recess being enlarged slightly, from front to back, so that the head can tilt forwardly or backwardly.

Forward tilting movement of the head 2S,

against the action of the retractile spring 32 ofl have surfaces 40 at right angles tothe length' of the said arms, the surfaces 46 beingy disposed adjacent to surfaces 4|,'which have an upward slant; 'It is shown in Fig. 4 that the forearms 31 and the upper arms 38 are held together by pull springs 42, functioning like the springs 32 of Fig. 5. The construction is such' that the forearms 31 and the upper arms 38 can have a natural folding movement, resembling closely the movement thattakes place in the arms of a human being. j l l Rectangular suspension members 43 are pro-v vided and the vertical portions thereof extend downwardly along the upper arms 33, Vand terminate in ring clamps 44, seated in grooves in the upper arms. The horizontal portions of ,the suspension members 43 are mounted to rotaterin journal members 45 of spherical form, the journal members being received for rotation in the ring bearings I4. At their inner ends, the horizontal portions of the suspension members 43 terminate in eyes 4S, pivotally assembledwith eyes 41 located at the upper end of control rods d8, passing downwardly through the torso, and provided with finger sockets 48 at their lower ends.

By moving the vcontroljrods 4S downwardly, through the instrumentality of the finger sock- `as shown at 52.

. l upwardly through guides 53, carried at the inner ets 49, the suspension Lmembers 43 and the arm elements 31 and 38, will be caused to swing outwardly and laterally, away from the torso. In order to return the parts quickly to the depending position shown in Fig. 4, the eyes 41 at the upper ends of the control rods 43 are connected by a resilient cord 5D, which is engaged through the bends of the parts I9 that form continuations of the upper frame Amembers |8 of Fig. 2.

FlexibleV elements 5| (Fig. 4) are provided, and have their lower ends secured to the forearms 31, The flexible elements 5| pass sides of the upper arm members 38, near the upper ends thereof. Referring to Figs. 2 and 6, it

.will be observed that the flexible elements 5| pass downwardly over the intermediate ring of the upper member of the torso, in contact with the ring' bearings i4, in advance of a vertical plane passing through the centers of the ring bearings i4. When the flexible elements 5|, are drawn downwardly, the first effect produced is to raise the arm membersI 38 and 31 without bending at he elbow: but if the strength of the pull is in` creased, a bending at the elbow will take place. The flexible elements 5| are supplied at their lower ends with rings 54, slidably mounted on the control vrods 48.

The puppet has six controls.

The control rods 48 and the lever members 43 cause the arms 38-31 to swing outwardly.

The arms, 31-38 can be swung upwardly and forwardly, and can be bent at the elbows, by pulling on the flexible elements 5|. Y

The neck 22 and the head 28 are rotated about a vertical axis by the two-part rod 24 and the spring 26. The head 28'can be caused to tilt forwardly by drawinguponY the flexible element 35.`

.A1 support for the puppet is provided. It includes a rod-like vstandard 55, having its upper endl secured at 55 in Fig. 8 and as shown in Fig. 4, to the top ring 2 of the ventral portion of the puppet. By rotating the standard 55, the'puppet can be turned on'a vertical axis.

It appears in Fig. -11 that the standard'55 is supplied with a shoulder 51. A collar 58 is held by a set screw 59, on the standard 55, and retains on the standard,"removably, a tubular carrier 6B. The carrier 60 is provided at its upperend with a circular foot 6|, connected by spokes'62 with the hub 63 of the carrier. Figure l0 shows that the spokes 62 tend to separate the various operating instrumentalities, to avoid entanglement or undue friction. Referring to Fig. 1, it will be noted that the foot 6| serves to support the puppet for shifting movement as an entity, in away to be described hereinafter. 4

The tubular carrier 6|! and the 'foot 6| can be slid readily off the standard 55, whenthe set screw 59 is loosened, the garbing of the-puppets being the more readily accomplished.

Y Referring to Figs. 1, 12, 13 and 14 the numerals 54 and 10 designate fixed stage beams. Transverse, horizontal levers 65 are fulcrumed in the beam 64. At their forward ends, the levers 65 have depending arms 66 provided with forwardly presented horizontal fingers 61, into Ywhich are threaded adjusting screws 68.

Platform sections B9 are mounted on the levers 65. Near their outer ends, the platform sections 59 are secured `at 1| to the beam 10. f

InY their adjacent edges, the platform sections 69 are supplied with recesses, defining slots 12. As shown in Fig. 1, the circular foot 6| rests on position. This can be avoided, by advancing the screws B8 of Fig. 13 to tilt thelevers 65 until the platform sections are in proper alinement.

The forward part, only, of the stage has been described. The rear part of the stage is indicated at 13 in Fig. 12 and is constructed like the forward part of the stage and is capable of the same adjustment as the forward part of the stage. Between the rear ends of the platform sections of the forward part of the stage and the platform sections of the rear part of the stage, there exists a transverse slot 14, communicating with the slots 12 of both the front and rear portions of the stage. Owing to the presence of the slots 'l2 and 14, the puppet may be moved about by an operator, beneath the stage, to occupy such positions as the nature of the action may require.

If desired, a movably mounted seat 15, for the operator, may be disposed beneath the stage, as

in Fig. 1.

'I'he general construction of the device is such that, without overhead strings, the puppet may be manipulated to assume a variety of life-like positions, it being possible to move the puppet 3 about as occasion may require.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A stage for a puppet show, comprising Youter and inner beams, platform sections secured to the outer beamand extended across the inner beam, levers fulcrumed intermediate their ends on the inner beam and engaging the lower surfaces of the platform sections, the levers eXtending under the outer beam, and means adjustable in the levers and engaging the lower edge of the outer beam to tilt the levers and level theV platform sections. l

2. A puppet comprising a torso, angle levers and means for fulcruming the levers at the shoulders of the torso, the fulcruming means comprising ringsl at the shoulders of the torso, and spherical members mounted on the inwardly eX- tended segments, and seated for rocking movement in the rings, the levers comprising depending segments and inwardly-extended segments.

arms connected to the depending segments, and depending operating members having their upper portions pivotally assembled with the inwardly-eXtended segments.

3. In a puppet, a pectoral member in the form of a frame including uprights having inwardlyextended, loop-shaped parts which are overlapped to define an eye, a neck supported for rotary oscillation on the upper end of tile frame, an operating member extended upwardly through the eye and having its upper end secured to the neck, to secure rotary oscillation thereof, and transverse arms carried by the operating member and having hook portions engaged beneath the loop-shaped parts, to hold the neck seated for oscillation.

4. In a puppet, a torso, a plurality cf body parts inovably assembledv with the tors-o, operating assembled with the body parts, a downwardiy-extended standard secured to the torso, a tubular carrier mounted on the standard, a supporting foot mounted on the standard, the operating members extending downwardiy'rtlirough the foot and being held spaced thereby, the carrier and the foot being removable from the standard, to permit a ready garbing oi the puppet, and means for securing the carrier releasabiy to the standard,

5. In a puppet show, transverse beams, front and rear platform parts each comprising a plurality of parallel sections, the'inner ends of the sections being free, the outer ends of the sections of the respective platform parts being attached to theV respective beams, the inner ends of the Vsections of the respective platform parts being spaced to dei-lne a single cross-stage slot, the longitudinal edges of the sections of each platform part being spacedv to form front-stage to back-stage slots communicating at their inner ends with the cross-stage slot, a puppet comprising a depending carrier extended below the platform and movable to occupy a position in any of theslots, a laterally-extended foot on the carrier,.and means under the control of an operator for raising and lowering the inner end portion of each section of each-platform part, thereby to alford a smooth stage-surface over wliicliV the foot may slide. y

ESTHER T. WOLFF. ERNEST PHILLIP WOLFF. 

